The Invincible Iron Man #511 Review

The noose tightens around Tony's neck.

With issue #511 of Invincible Iron Man, the noose continues to tighten around Tony Stark's neck. The Mandarin and Zeke Stane have a pretty ambitious and elaborate plan to finally take down Stark, and writer Matt Fraction is pulling it all together quite well coming out of the events of Fear Itself.

Maybe what Fraction does best with this issue of Invincible Iron Man is that he gets across how quickly Tony is losing control while his enemies gain it. We've seen Tony in some bad positions before -- like when he was brain dead, for example -- but Fraction may be setting up his biggest downfall yet, which is no small feat. The league of villains uniting against Stark is quite expansive, only lacking a secret headquarters in a swamp to really drive home the point that they are up to no good. Invincible Iron Man #511 also features some solid moments between Pepper and Tony's head of security, Cabe, further showing that Fraction loves developing Tony's extended cast just as much as he does Iron Man himself.

Series artist Salvador Larroca is once again back in the saddle on art duties for Invincible Iron Man. As per usual, Larroca's pencils work well for Iron Man, providing some great action sequences throughout the issue. However, there are a few moments where faces suffer from odd shadowing and coloring (attributed to Frank D'Armata), making some panels pretty distracting.

If you've been reading and enjoying Invincible Iron Man, this issue won't turn you off from the series. It's as fundamentally solid as most of the issues before it. And the cliffhanger should have your interest piqued to find out what happens next.